The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of USB holding devices and more specifically relates to a holding assembly for a USB flash/thumb drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, USB flash drives are a popular and portable data storage device. A USB drive may be used in place of other storage mediums such as floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, zip drive disks, etc, and may conveniently fit in one's pocket. In most cases, the USB drive is a plug and play device that includes Flash memory for storing data and a USB connector for connecting to a host device. While these devices work well, they are limited in the operations that they can perform. These devices are only configured for storing and transporting stored data (similar to other portable storage mediums) and therefore they do not include processing components, batteries for powering the processing components, or a user interface that enable users to communicate with the processing components.
Due to growing use of flash drives and thumb drives in today's technology-fueled era, it is important that USB drives are conveniently accessible throughout the day. Often times, people forget to take their USB drive with them because it is not yet considered an essential item (such as a wallet, cell phone, keys). As such, people may often discover that a USB drive would be extremely handy in unanticipated situations. However, because it is quite easy to forget a USB drive since they are small, lightweight, and inexpensive, it is not uncommon to be without a USB drive when such an unanticipated situation arises.
Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. and Pub. Nos. 2012/0239836 to Babak Enayati; U.S. Pat. No. 8,316,492 to Launce R. Barber; U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,858 to Brandon Emerson et al; U.S. Pat. No. 7,630,204 to Itzhak Pomerantz; U.S. Pat. No. 7,544,073 to David Nguyen et al; and U.S. Pat. No. D522,519 to Bennett S. Rubin et al. This prior art is representative of flash drive grips having an attachment mechanism to a key ring. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.
Ideally, a flash grip system should provide a retro-installable holding assembly for a USB flash/thumb drive which may comprise a grip having an article-fastening clip attached thereto so that the flash drive may be easily attached to a belt loop, purse strap, key chain, brief case, etc., for convenient accessibility. Thus, a need exists for a reliable flash grip system and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.